Reviving San Diego's Rock Renaissance
Sweeping onto the scene from northernmost San Diego County in 1983, Hair Theatre made its mark with a brand of American Gothic that was far ahead of its era.
This rare video of “What Should I Say” shows Hair Theatre at the peak of its power and offers a glimpse of the charisma that would make the band a legend among music cognoscenti.
The date was Dec. 28, 1984, and the venue was the Gaslamp Quarter Theater, where Hair Theatre appeared with Penguins Slept and Orange County’s Society.
An online discovery has created a new Che Underground mystery to solve.
I ran across this video of the mighty Hair Theatre playing Iguana’s in Tijuana. Now I want to know how it made its way to YouTube and who-all is on the other half-hour of tape!
Some clues:
Read moreHair Theatre opens for Devo at Iguana’s: The Juni Bravo archive
Here’s another selection from Hair Theatre’s Nov. 17, 1983, performance at the Che Cafe, where the band joined Eleven Sons and Noise 292. For the occasion, Hair Theatre added Answers co-founder Dave Fleminger to the original lineup of Sergio (vocals); Sergio Castillo (bass); Cesar Castillo (rhythm guitar); and Howard Palmer (drums).
Listening to songs like “Place in Space” at 30 years’ remove, I’m more aware than I was then of the contemporary qualities of Hair Theatre’s sound.
Watch Hair Theatre perform “In Obscurity” at Che Games for May, 2009!
More than 30 years later, here’s a performance of a Hair Theatre staple at the Che Cafe Nov. 17, 1983. “Phantom of Delight” was part of a set that featured the debut of Dave Fleminger on lead guitar. The rest of the lineup was original Hair Theatre, if memory serves: Sergio (vocals); Sergio Castillo (bass); Cesar Castillo (rhythm guitar); Howard Palmer (drums).
Watch Hair Theatre perform “In Obscurity” at Che Games for May, 2009!
Followers of the Che Underground may recall that this gig also featured Eleven Sons (a last-minute replacement for Guy Goode and the Decentones) as well as my own band, Noise 292. There’s plenty more where this comes from, if we can sort out the song titles and other vital information!
Che Underground New Year’s resolution #1: Get better about tackling our backlog of treasures.
Here’s an assortment of photographs I’m long overdue to post from the collection of Laura S. These 10 photos include mid-’80s shots of Hair Theatre and other nears and dears, followed by Laura’s recollections of the circumstances behind each. Help fill in the blanks!
Our Che Games for May 2009 show at San Diego’s Casbah regrouped nine legendary bands and ignited countless personal reunions. The crescendo of the two-night event was the triumphant return of the incredible Hair Theatre, seen here performing “In Obscurity” for the madding throng.
Seeing Hair Theatre perform together again was a personal highlight. This band amazed and delighted me from the first time I saw them play a party in Leucadia in 1983, and the reunion of members scattered along the West Coast was more than I could have hoped for when we first conceived this event.
Carol Coleman (née Anderson), Encinitas Pannikin manager extraordinaire and all-around rockin’ scenester, recently digitized some photographs that include shots tracking paths we took from Hair Theatre and Noise 292.
These pictures include Hair Theatre vocalist Sergio, Noise 292 guitarist David Rives (and Answers guitarist Dave Fleminger) at one of the occasions when the former drummed for us at the Che Cafe; several shows by 3 Guys Called Jesus, the band I formed with bassist Steve Duke and drummer Robert Labbe in 1985; and 1995 photos of Joy Bomb, San Diego’s successor to Hair Theatre.
While we await the arrival of new video from Che Games for May 2009, here’s some more vintage footage of the Hair Theatre lineup that reunited for that show.
Like “What Should I Say,” this sizzling performance of “Final Steps” dates from 1984 and features Sergio (vocals); Sergio Castillo (bass); Cesar Castillo (guitar); Paul Allen (guitar); and Steve Broach (drums).
Check out more Hair Theatre and other Che Underground video morsels on the Che Underground YouTube channel!
Che Underground archivists are frankly embarrassed by the riches rendered from the Che Games for May festival May 29-30 at San Diego’s Casbah. Twenty-five years or more later, the shows offered a great opportunity to showcase beloved material — and capture it with 21st-century technology.
While few early-’80s performances have survived, this event was immortalized from every angle with digital audio, video and photography; our biggest challenge now is to collate and edit this wealth of material.
In other words: I hardly know where to start!
I’m proud to get the photographic ball rolling with the camera work of Unknowns bassist/ photographic powerhouse Dave Doyle, who took some beautiful shots of the Mirrors, the original San Diego Wallflowers, Noise 292 and Hair Theatre on the second evening of the show. (Stay tuned for a gallery of Friday night’s superstars: Everybody Violet, Manual Scan, the Gay Dennys and the Answers!)
A quick one, while he’s away: I’m tying up some loose ends before my flight back from San Diego to New Jersey after Day Two of the Che Underground’s Che Games for May reunion event at the Casbah Club.
Thanks to a crack team of documentarians, we’ve got audio, video and photos to share and enjoy — and those will be making their way onto the site in the coming weeks.
But for now, a simple “Thank you!” and an open invitation to talk about what our quarter-century reunion did to or for you.
You’re all very, very important to me, and easily my biggest regret is that I couldn’t be everywhere at once to talk to you and share time. But please: Let’s come together here and swap a few stories for each other and for our friends who couldn’t be with us this time out.